Saturday, February 19, 2011

Now that you have made your Danish pastry dough, it's time to make some delicious treats! The first method gives you the classic shape people think of when they are offered a danish, the second is a pinwheel sure to impress your friends. The glazes and baking method come from Peter Reinhart, but are fairly standard fare.

SCHNECKEN (makes 12 reasonably-sized pastries)Line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper)1. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1/2 of the pastry block into a 12 x 9 rectangle. Cut into 12 one inch strips (i.e. they will measure 1 x 9 inches).2. The dough will shrink back a bit from the cutting, so gently pull each end then twist each end several times to make a spring. Coil the dough and tuck the end under the coil. Place on the prepared sheet, cover with plastic, and let rise for 1.5 to 2 hours, or until nicely swelled and risen.3. OPTION: Instead of letting the dough rise, you can freeze the formed dough. Place the sheet in the freezer, and when pastries are frozen transfer to a plastic bag.PINWHEELS (makes 8)Line a baking sheet with parchment paper)1. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1/2 of the pastry block into an 8 x 16 inch rectangle. Cut into 8 equal squares (4 x 4 inches).2. Cut a notch at a diagonal from each corner to the center, leaving enough space in the middle for the filling. Take the same side of each corner and fold it into the middle, pressing the dough into the middle to hold its shape. Place in the prepared sheets, cover with plastic, and let rise for 1.5 to 2 hours, or until nicely swelled and risen.3. OPTION: Instead of letting the dough rise, you can freeze the formed dough. Place the sheet in the freezer, and when pastries are frozen transfer to a plastic bag.TO BAKEIf you are using frozen pastries, place on a prepared baking sheet, cover with plastic, and let thaw/rise until nicely swelled. This will take a few hours. Then proceed as follows:1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees2. Once pastries have risen, use you thumb to depress a section in the middle for the filling. Fill depression with fruit filling (I find it easiest to put the filling in a piping bag).3. Place pastries in the oven and reduce heat to 400 degrees. Bake for 6 mins, then rotate pan and bake for another 6 mins. Pastries should be golden but not too dark.4. Brush each pastry with hot glaze (see below), then let cool in the pan for 5 mins. Drizzle with a bit of icing and enjoy while still warm.

ICINGDouble if you like a lot of icing- 1 cup icing sugar- 1 1/2 tsp light corn syrup- 2 tbsp soy milkMix all ingredient together, adding more icing sugar or soy milk to make a thickish glaze that can be drizzled with a fork.

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comments:

When you open a vegan bakery, can I become your apprentice? These danishes are amazing and I plan on trying the recipe when I have some time to spare! Thanks for the constant source of information and inspiration!

When I read these pastry posts of yours, I can't help but be incredibly impressed and a little jealous. I'm not advanced enough to take on pastry yet, but in the meantime, your posts have taught me a lot about technique and patience. Until I'm ready, I'll just continue to read in awe and perfect the technique of wiping drool away before it gets too gross. Cheers!

I love reading you blog and just awarded it the Stylish Blogger Award. I mentioned your blog on the post that I published today on my site. You can see the post on my blog: http://1840farm.wordpress.com/

My mouth has been watering for about an hour as I've sifted through your posts. I'm not vegan -- largely because of a need to avoid high grocery bills and fear of cooking, but I've started trying to eat less meat just because of health concerns. I'm going to start making one of your recipes every Saturday. Pretty inspirational. Thank you, thank you! I'm so happy to have stumbled upon your blog thanks to googling "rice cheese."